Arthur Gelb, a longtime New York Times editor who served as Managing Editor from 1986-1989, died Tuesday, the Times said. He was 90.

Gelb, who became president of the New York Times Co. Foundation after his mandatory retirement at age 65, joined the paper as a copy boy in 1944. Born Feb. 3, 1924 in East Harlem, he had a passion for theater and wrote articles that jump-started the careers of Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, Lenny Bruce and Jason Robards. Along with his wife, Barbara, Gelb penned a biography of Nobel-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill in 1962.

Gelb served as Metropolitan Editor from 1967-1978, where he was known for sniffing out big stories. The paper’s obit recounts a story from Times metro reporter Ralph Blumenthal prompted by Gelb asking him about taxis out of the blue:

“‘What about taxis?’ I asked,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “He seemed surprised at the question. ‘Taxis,’ he said. ‘There’s a good story there.’ I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I made some calls. After about three weeks I came up with a great scandal about payoffs to inspectors in Queens. How did he know?”